The death penalty is once again being debated here in Connecticut Connecticut or New England , you probably haven’t heard about the horrific home invasion murders of the Hawke-Petit family in 2007. Check out this link as it gives the whole story of the horrific events that happened (http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20059158,00.html). Two criminals broke into the home of the Hawke-Petit family, knocked out the father (William Petit), tied him up and ransacked the house for money. When they didn’t find enough money, they made the mother (Jennifer) drive to the bank and withdraw $15,000. They then raped one of the daughters who was only 11, the mother Jennifer and then set the house on fire, killing both daughters and Jennifer. Somehow the Dr. Petit managed to escape and now has to live with this the rest of his life. It was a horrific event by two criminals that showed no mercy and no remorse. One of the criminals (Steven Hayes) was recently found guilty on 16 of 17 accounts and awaits sentencing. The prosecutor is pushing for the death penalty and it seems everyone has an opinion. Maybe it’s me, but why are we even discussing this? Fry this son of a bitch and get on to the other one!
I’ve never fully understood those who oppose the death penalty. Those opposed always say, what’s the use, it’s not going to bring back the victims. Well, no shit, but it could bring closure to the family members and friends that have been left behind. I know if my family just got murdered by some asshole, I’d want them to succumb to the same fate. In fact, I’ll take it one further I believe they should let the family members administer the penalty. That’s right let them inject the fatal dose. I know that’ll never happen but I really think it could bring closure to the whole situation.
Another opposition view is that he’ll be treated worse in jail, especially those crimes that involve children. I highly doubt this at all. High threat prisoners are generally kept away from the mass population in prison. They are isolated and not allowed to join the regular prison population because they are in danger. Not only would that be a risk to other inmates, are we now condoning criminal acts in prison? Isn’t the prison system designed to rehabilitate these criminals? How is it better to let other criminals do basically what a lethal injection could do? I don’t get the reasoning there at all.
There is one view I hear used all the time by those opposed to the death penalty that I actually agree with. There is a risk of executing a potential innocent person. Sometimes juries are wrong or the prosecution simply is better than the defense lawyers. I totally agree with that, but I don’t feel that’s enough to eliminate the death penalty. What I would do is enforce the death penalty but after sentencing, you wait one to two years before actually killing the convicted. This way, appeals and more information can be looked at. This is the only fair way in my opinion. While I don’t like the fact that tax payers will have to pay to house these criminals for this set period of time, I feel it’s justified to make sure we’re executing the correct person.
Some also say we should put the criminals in jail and let them live with the guilt that’s associated with the crimes they committed. Do you really think these animals have any remorse and experience any guilt? I don’t. These people clearly have a screw loose or something seriously messed up in their brain. I don’t believe they would sit and think about what they did. I really don’t.
I feel that keeping the death penalty and using it more often would help in society. Maybe it’s me, but don’t you think murders would decrease if there was a death penalty? I do. I think the threat of being put to death would deter some murders. Not all, that’s just unreasonable to think because there are simply too many crazies out there, but I’m sure it would help decrease the amount of murders, death is the most extreme penalty and would surely scare some criminals into not committing certain crimes.
I agree with almost all of this post. I am old school and believe "An eye for an eye". That said you hear about people all the time who were innocent found guilty and years later released. If a someone committs a murder and is found guilty and admits guilt as in the case above then the death penalty should be strickly enforced. I think overall though the legal system needs to be revamped, both of the guys had past records and should not have been let back out on the streets. This is truly a tragedy, because the legal system once again failed a innocent family.
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